big whoop
April 4, 2022 9:42 AM Subscribe
well I came here to say 'big whoop', but I see that you've already stolen that line!
I've heard you were a contemptible sneak...
posted by Acari at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2022 [8 favorites]
I've heard you were a contemptible sneak...
posted by Acari at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2022 [8 favorites]
I've heard you were a contemptible sneak...
First you'd better stop waving it like a feather duster!
oh.. oops.
posted by aubilenon at 10:04 AM on April 4, 2022 [10 favorites]
First you'd better stop waving it like a feather duster!
oh.. oops.
posted by aubilenon at 10:04 AM on April 4, 2022 [10 favorites]
I played the heck out of the first two games and loved them dearly, but my fave will always be Curse, so I'm a little bummed it's going to be retconned (not that anyone should really care too much about whether something is "canon" or not). I'm tentatively excited about this, though I'll be sad at the missing verbs (a key part of any point and click adventure, IMO).
Personally I'm not a big fan of the paper doll style animation that seems to be all the rage in 2D games these days, but I'll look past it if the writing is good. And if Murray is actually in the game.
I've heard you were a contemptible sneak...
How appropriate. You fight like a cow!
posted by fight or flight at 10:08 AM on April 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
Personally I'm not a big fan of the paper doll style animation that seems to be all the rage in 2D games these days, but I'll look past it if the writing is good. And if Murray is actually in the game.
I've heard you were a contemptible sneak...
How appropriate. You fight like a cow!
posted by fight or flight at 10:08 AM on April 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
Are we getting ridiculously overhyped about this and crushing it under the weight of unrealistic expectations? I'm on board.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 10:09 AM on April 4, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by Sing Or Swim at 10:09 AM on April 4, 2022 [10 favorites]
As someone who's never played any of the Monkey Island games despite people thinking I must have them memorized, what's the best way to get caught up?
posted by The otter lady at 10:29 AM on April 4, 2022
posted by The otter lady at 10:29 AM on April 4, 2022
FWIW, Gilbert clarified on Twitter that Curse isn’t going out of canon.
posted by sidesh0w at 10:44 AM on April 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by sidesh0w at 10:44 AM on April 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I loved The Secret of Monkey Island, LeChuck's Revenge and (especially??) Curse of Monkey Island* and I liked Thimbleweed Park
I replayed MI1 and MI2 a few years back, but I never got around to Curse. Maybe this year. And I really enjoyed Thimbleweed Park. I'm super stoked for this. And even if it sorta stinks, we still get to spend some more time in the MI universe!
posted by uncleozzy at 10:48 AM on April 4, 2022
I replayed MI1 and MI2 a few years back, but I never got around to Curse. Maybe this year. And I really enjoyed Thimbleweed Park. I'm super stoked for this. And even if it sorta stinks, we still get to spend some more time in the MI universe!
posted by uncleozzy at 10:48 AM on April 4, 2022
Murray is in this game. (via sidesh0w's link)
That's all I need to know! 💀💀💀💀
posted by fight or flight at 10:59 AM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
That's all I need to know! 💀💀💀💀
posted by fight or flight at 10:59 AM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
I loved Thimbleweed Park, but it was really faithful to its Maniac Mansion roots and maybe a bit alienating because of it. Personally, I think the verb-less UIs of later games like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango are much more natural to play now, and don't distract from the game art and animation. Ron sounded like he ready to leave the verb UI behind in his 2013 post about revisiting Monkey Island, so I'm curious to see where it lands.
posted by waxpancake at 11:08 AM on April 4, 2022
posted by waxpancake at 11:08 AM on April 4, 2022
Curse is the only game I played and I really enjoyed it. I guess my main concern is if I'll be able to play this on my Switch or not.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:51 AM on April 4, 2022
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:51 AM on April 4, 2022
My big fear is that he will go into the "switch between a bunch of characters with discontinuous, overlapping stories" thing again. It's in pretty much all of his games except for Monkey island.
Well, okay, it's in pretty much all the games he's been the lead on that I've played. I dunno how many of the Humungous games involve a complex story of the quests of five overlapping cartoon vehicles.
I'll probably get it though. I've played all of the previous Monkey Island games. I think. I even paid for all of them, except the first one. Cartoon pirate joke time is always fun.
posted by egypturnash at 11:53 AM on April 4, 2022
Well, okay, it's in pretty much all the games he's been the lead on that I've played. I dunno how many of the Humungous games involve a complex story of the quests of five overlapping cartoon vehicles.
I'll probably get it though. I've played all of the previous Monkey Island games. I think. I even paid for all of them, except the first one. Cartoon pirate joke time is always fun.
posted by egypturnash at 11:53 AM on April 4, 2022
Never played the games, but stopped by to share the song Monkey Island by The 13th Floor Elevators!
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 11:55 AM on April 4, 2022
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 11:55 AM on April 4, 2022
First you'd better stop waving it like a feather duster!
You post like a dairy farmer.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:25 PM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
You post like a dairy farmer.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:25 PM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
I would rather play a mediocre Monkey Island game than a good non-Monkey Island game so I have no worries about getting overhyped and disappointing myself!
posted by babelfish at 12:46 PM on April 4, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by babelfish at 12:46 PM on April 4, 2022 [10 favorites]
The Secret of Monkey Island, released in 1990, is now as old as Tennis For Two, one of the earliest video games, played on an oscilloscope, was in that year (it was released in 1958).
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:11 PM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:11 PM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Well, I wouldn't pay more than 20 bucks for it.
posted by RobotHero at 9:05 PM on April 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by RobotHero at 9:05 PM on April 4, 2022 [5 favorites]
oh yeah?
posted by wibari at 9:39 PM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by wibari at 9:39 PM on April 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Eeee, excited! Thanks for this post, hadn't seen this anywhere else. I absolutely adore the old Lucasfilm/Lucasarts adventures. MI2 is probably my favourite of them. I loved Thimbleweed Park as well, without reservation. Even the verbs, even the character switching. Even the dust.
So looking forward to this.
posted by Dysk at 11:21 PM on April 4, 2022
So looking forward to this.
posted by Dysk at 11:21 PM on April 4, 2022
aubilenon: You have just committed one of the most heinous crimes known to humankind: Being Wrong About A Thing On The Internet.
That Gilbert hates Curse of Monkey Island is a very long-standing assumption among fans. When he posted his plans for a true third game, he referred to the sequels as 'baggage', which basically everyone took to mean, "I hate those games with the unending fury of a quintillion scowling sons, and if you ever meet someone who likes them, punch them in the face or you're literally cancer." This necessitated the second-most unexpected declaration he has ever made (only ludicrously recently topped): that he actually likes Curse.
As for what he means by not pushing Curse out of canon, which appears to contradict the first post I linked, I have no idea. I think we may need an official chart regarding canon.
posted by BiggerJ at 11:32 PM on April 4, 2022
That Gilbert hates Curse of Monkey Island is a very long-standing assumption among fans. When he posted his plans for a true third game, he referred to the sequels as 'baggage', which basically everyone took to mean, "I hate those games with the unending fury of a quintillion scowling sons, and if you ever meet someone who likes them, punch them in the face or you're literally cancer." This necessitated the second-most unexpected declaration he has ever made (only ludicrously recently topped): that he actually likes Curse.
As for what he means by not pushing Curse out of canon, which appears to contradict the first post I linked, I have no idea. I think we may need an official chart regarding canon.
posted by BiggerJ at 11:32 PM on April 4, 2022
As someone who's never played any of the Monkey Island games despite people thinking I must have them memorized, what's the best way to get caught up?
Play them in order; with the exception of the fourth one, which is not recommended, they're in decreasing order of relevance as the series goes on.
Monkey Island 1 and 2 should be on Steam as Special Editions with voice acting; Monkey 1 is possibly the best adventure game ever made, and I'm pretty sure both hold up (with a couple of dodgy puzzles in Monkey 2; you use a monkey as a "monkey wrench" on the pump, it's an infamously terrible puzzle in a game that mostly avoids them, so feel no guilt about skipping it).
The third game is Curse of Monkey Island; it's not quite as good (no-one's been able to write Elaine as well as Gilbert) but it's still well worth your time. Skip Escape from Monkey Island, it's in that weird transition period where all games had to be 3D but the controls weren't worked out, and while Grim Fandango was worth putting up with because the writing and puzzles were mostly pretty good, Escape is not. The fifth 'game' is a series of episodic games called Tales of Monkey Island, which is also worth your time, but not before the other games in the series.
As for what he means by not pushing Curse out of canon, which appears to contradict the first post I linked, I have no idea.
He wrote that nearly ten years ago, with a note that the game he envisioned is different to the one he would have made right after Monkey 2; presumably the same applies here. It feels like he got a lot of the nostalgia out of his system with Thimbleweed Park, and he has Dave Grossman as a co-writer which suggests that he's not as wary about working within the existing canon that the later games established, and that Grossman was involved with.
I'm sort of wary, because I found Innuendo Studio's discussion about Monkey Island's nihilism very persuasive, and I'd sort of like the stakes to matter? And I don't think Ron Gilbert writes jokes like that? But also like it's Monkey Island, I'll give it a chance.
posted by Merus at 1:34 AM on April 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Play them in order; with the exception of the fourth one, which is not recommended, they're in decreasing order of relevance as the series goes on.
Monkey Island 1 and 2 should be on Steam as Special Editions with voice acting; Monkey 1 is possibly the best adventure game ever made, and I'm pretty sure both hold up (with a couple of dodgy puzzles in Monkey 2; you use a monkey as a "monkey wrench" on the pump, it's an infamously terrible puzzle in a game that mostly avoids them, so feel no guilt about skipping it).
The third game is Curse of Monkey Island; it's not quite as good (no-one's been able to write Elaine as well as Gilbert) but it's still well worth your time. Skip Escape from Monkey Island, it's in that weird transition period where all games had to be 3D but the controls weren't worked out, and while Grim Fandango was worth putting up with because the writing and puzzles were mostly pretty good, Escape is not. The fifth 'game' is a series of episodic games called Tales of Monkey Island, which is also worth your time, but not before the other games in the series.
As for what he means by not pushing Curse out of canon, which appears to contradict the first post I linked, I have no idea.
He wrote that nearly ten years ago, with a note that the game he envisioned is different to the one he would have made right after Monkey 2; presumably the same applies here. It feels like he got a lot of the nostalgia out of his system with Thimbleweed Park, and he has Dave Grossman as a co-writer which suggests that he's not as wary about working within the existing canon that the later games established, and that Grossman was involved with.
I'm sort of wary, because I found Innuendo Studio's discussion about Monkey Island's nihilism very persuasive, and I'd sort of like the stakes to matter? And I don't think Ron Gilbert writes jokes like that? But also like it's Monkey Island, I'll give it a chance.
posted by Merus at 1:34 AM on April 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
The third game is Curse of Monkey Island; it's not quite as good
Counterpoint: Murray the evil skull.
Murray: "...and the forces of darkness will applaud me as I stride through the gates of Hell carrying your head on a pike!"
Guybrush: "Stride?"
Murray: "All right then, roll. Roll through the gates of Hell..."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:38 AM on April 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Counterpoint: Murray the evil skull.
Murray: "...and the forces of darkness will applaud me as I stride through the gates of Hell carrying your head on a pike!"
Guybrush: "Stride?"
Murray: "All right then, roll. Roll through the gates of Hell..."
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 2:38 AM on April 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I used the CMI resource ripper from Mixnmojo to isolate the "stride/roll through the gates of hell" exchange and used it as my computer start up sound in high school, so needless to say I was pumped to see Murray in this teaser.
posted by gee_the_riot at 9:15 AM on April 5, 2022
posted by gee_the_riot at 9:15 AM on April 5, 2022
MI1 and MI2 are probably my favourite point-and-clickers of all time. MI3 was actually perfectly ok, as I recall. MI4 I don't believe I played, because it was "3D", and why would they do that?
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:27 PM on April 5, 2022
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:27 PM on April 5, 2022
And I really enjoyed Thimbleweed Park.
At first I was like: what the hell are you talking about? Do they mean Threepwood Park, and there's some kind of Monkey Island base building/exploring/farming/crafting game I didn't know about, and it's like Stardew Valley, and how fucking cool would that be?
But then I realised what you meant, and so I was disappointed, but then also I remembered that I played Thimbleweed Park as well and thought it was fun! So that was good! And now I'm just psychically exhausted.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:39 PM on April 5, 2022
At first I was like: what the hell are you talking about? Do they mean Threepwood Park, and there's some kind of Monkey Island base building/exploring/farming/crafting game I didn't know about, and it's like Stardew Valley, and how fucking cool would that be?
But then I realised what you meant, and so I was disappointed, but then also I remembered that I played Thimbleweed Park as well and thought it was fun! So that was good! And now I'm just psychically exhausted.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:39 PM on April 5, 2022
Do they mean Threepwood Park, and there's some kind of Monkey Island base building/exploring/farming/crafting game I didn't know about
I am personally imagining a Theme Park clone with Monkey Island theming.
posted by egypturnash at 10:03 AM on April 7, 2022
I am personally imagining a Theme Park clone with Monkey Island theming.
posted by egypturnash at 10:03 AM on April 7, 2022
As someone who's never played any of the Monkey Island games despite people thinking I must have them memorized, what's the best way to get caught up?
I may get pilloried by some fans, but IMO MI1 has a few very good laughs, but some concepts are not fully shaped yet. It's not very long though in any case. MI2 and MI3 are the best of the bunch and very much worth playing. MI4 gets dragged down by the control scheme, interface and writing - it has some upsides if you are patient about it. Tales of MI had three anodyne episodes and I liked the last ones better, but I haven't played it since it came out.
posted by ersatz at 12:16 PM on April 11, 2022
I may get pilloried by some fans, but IMO MI1 has a few very good laughs, but some concepts are not fully shaped yet. It's not very long though in any case. MI2 and MI3 are the best of the bunch and very much worth playing. MI4 gets dragged down by the control scheme, interface and writing - it has some upsides if you are patient about it. Tales of MI had three anodyne episodes and I liked the last ones better, but I haven't played it since it came out.
posted by ersatz at 12:16 PM on April 11, 2022
So, there's this documentary from Oct 2020, The Making Of Monkey Island [1h22m], released for its 30th Anniversary. I found it to be a worthwhile watch, with deep background and a lot of context. People here might enjoy it.
posted by hippybear at 8:48 PM on April 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 8:48 PM on April 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
- Verge interview with screenshots
- Adventure Gamers interview (kind of redundant with the one above, but has some hints how the new game will connect with the amusement park ending of MI 2)
- Thimbleweed Park: Delores, a free mini-adventure (from 2020, I did miss that at the time...)
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* Which Ron Gilbert didn't work on and has some kind of chip on his shoulder about. If Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer could put aside their creative differences and work together on this, then I would be over the moon about it.
posted by aubilenon at 9:57 AM on April 4, 2022 [4 favorites]